The New York Opportunity That ALMOST Was

Ye, I get ticked off everytime, when I see, so called human beings, driver
around in cars, where the speaker is larger than the car it self. I can hear
the thumping noise, when they drive by, even with my windows close and my
radio is on..
One time, I got a big hole on my muffler and my car was very noisy. Because
of that, police stopped me, gave me a ticket and 30 days to repair it. Now,
I get ticked off, every time I see these Harley bike guys, with the cut off
muffler. One can hear them far away coming and go deaf when they drive by.
Where is the police, is this legal?
In one word, these people are the creations of the American marketing
system. Long as they can sell this crap and make big money, politicians
tailor the laws for it.

JS

"Atreju" wrote in message
...
Hey all,

By now I'm sure most of you have heard what happened in last night on
the Eastern coast of United States, and much of Canada. At
approximately 4:00 PM (EST), all the power went off. Areas affected,
as far as I know, were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, most of the
rest of the east coast, as far west as parts of Ohio and Michigan.
Also, all of Ontario, Canada.

The power was finally restored in Queens, NY where I live sometime
around 8:00 AM.

So, yesterday around 7:00 PM, my friend comes over, and we see this as
a golden opportunity - take that telescope out!

I was going to prepare the rant of a lifetime, but it is morning, and
I've got stuff to do. Suffice it to say that I now see the true nature
of some of the people who live in my area.

There was a line of cars as far as the eye could see with their
headlights on high-beam, shining glorious beacons of hope into the
night. No man woman or child would be without precious light in that
difficult time... nay, there were even people in their late teens and
twenties running around with their clothes mostly off, blasting music
from their car stereos on their 5,000,000,000 watt speakers mounted in
the trunk... there were flashlights, lanterns, anything that could
attempt to re-create the light of creation, so as not to actually have
to be surrounded by darkness for ONE MOMENT.

So what could have been a fantastic opportunity turned out to be
nothing but a crowd of unfortunately uneducated, scared little
children who could not live with the fact that it GETS DARK WHEN THE
SUN GOES DOWN.

Most of these people have NEVER in their lives been in such darkness,
and I guess it frightened them.

My friend suggested the loud music was an anesthetic for them so they
did not have to think about the darkness that was upon them.

My friend and I were fully prepared to pack up our stuff and drive
over to the park near us where we might have been able to get some
nice darkness, but my wife didn't want me to go, so as the loving
husband that I am, I stayed home in the jungle that is my street, and
listened to the noise of the local wildlife, with their pulsating
tribal music (techno, mostly. I suppose it could have been worse), and
their headlights shining beacons of hope all over the goddamn place.

Anyway, how was your evening?

PS I did get a look at Mars, but only with my binoculars. By the time
most of the people settled down, it was after midnight, and I was
EXHAUSTED, so I did not have the energy to take out my scope then.

However, over this weekend I fully intend to make at least one outing
for Mars. I will go wherever I have to, and stay as long as I have to,
to enjoy the opportunity of Mars' proximity and brightness.

LASTLY, I wanted to tell you all that I will be moving in the near
future to Indiana (yes, a HUGE change from New York). I hope to enjoy
many, MANY nights of stargazing from my own back yard in the years to
come.

Regards all,
clear skies.


-Atreju


---Atreju---